On the 15th of the same month, he took a steamer for Carlisle to attend a conference there. Of the steamship and voyage he wrote. "It was newly painted from stem to stern and we could not sit down without carrying away the paint. I accordingly paid two shillings for the use of a bunk among the sailors. I had no sooner gone below than I was enveloped in the most horrid stench rising from a cargo of guano. I lay down but became as sick as death and vomited at intervals for five hours. I was strained to such a degree that blood ran out of my nose. The sailors filled the place with tobacco smoke which was more intolerable than the other stench which I had to endure. This was the most horrible night I ever passed at sea. We reached port at two o'clock in the morning. I crossed the ferry and took a canal boat to Carlisle."
At the Carlisle conference six branches of the Church were represented and the membership of the conference was 165. He returned, at the close of the conference, to Liverpool by the same boat which on the return voyage, however, was loaded with sheep, horses, and cattle.
His journal at this time contains the following: "On the 24th of May, which was the seventh day of the week, at six o'clock in the morning, the last stone was laid on the Temple of the Lord at Nauvoo with shouts of joy and 'Glory to God in the Highest.' The Lord finished his work on the seventh day and rested."
On the 6th of June, 1845, President Woodruff left Liverpool for London by rail for the purpose of securing the copyright of the Doctrine and Covenants. He immediately employed a printer and published three thousand copies. This was the first edition of that book published in the British Mission.
As the 27th of June approached, President Woodruff appointed that day a day of prayer and fasting throughout all the churches of the British Isles. It was the day of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. On the 18th of the following month there was born to him in Liverpool a son whom he named Joseph, in honor of the Prophet.
On the 13th of September he attended a conference at Manchester. That conference then numbered 1,769 souls, including 44 elders, 99 priests, 57 teachers, and 27 deacons. During the three months preceding this conference, there had been baptized into the Church in that conference a hundred and fifteen souls.
On October 5th he paid a visit to the Lemington conference. There was much prejudice at that place against the Saints. Shortly before this visit there, mobs had assembled and broken up the bannisters, stairs, benches, and tables in the building where the Saints met for worship. Of Lemington he said: "This is one of the first aristocratic towns in England. Here the nobility come together for the select society of their own class, and because of the sulphur springs at this place. The streets and buildings of the town are rich and splendid in appearance."
Of Warwick Castle in that region he says: "It is considered the most splendid castle in England and is furnished with all the magnificence which art and the wealth of Earldom could bestow upon it. It is 333 feet long and is divided into a large number of rooms. The walls are hung with gorgeous tapestry, and the rooms furnished with the costliest furniture and the richest damask. Chairs, tables, and stands were inlaid with pearl, and other precious stones. Some of these articles of furniture cost seventy-five thousand dollars each. From the windows of the castle we looked out upon the stately cedars of Lebanon, upon oaks, firs, and a great variety of shrubbery. The castle is eight hundred years old. The tower is 150 feet high."
Elder Woodruff always availed himself of every opportunity to visit historic places which he describes at great length in detail.
From Warwick Castle Elder Woodruff went with his counselor, Hedlock, to Birmingham. Here they were received with great demonstration, and preparations were made for a joyous reception for the President of the Mission. Five hundred Saints awaited Elder Woodruff and his companions as they entered the door, and round after round of applause went up to greet them. There was such clapping of hands and stamping of feet that the room in which they were gathered trembled. All wished to shake the hand of their President and it was with great difficulty that he reached the stand upon entering the room. He talked to the people at some length. The manifestation of love for him, however, was not confined to Birmingham. He enjoyed the affection and enthusiasm of the Saints wherever he went.